


draw a path to me and you

by theshipshipper



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Youtuber AU, also, bc i have tiny crush on koji bwahaha, inspired by kids describe to an illustrator, mom!sansa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 13:02:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15819405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshipshipper/pseuds/theshipshipper
Summary: Jon never expected the whole youtube thing to get big -- he's not complaining, though.As far as gigs go, it's a pretty good one. It's especially great when he meets Sansa Stark because of it.





	draw a path to me and you

**Author's Note:**

> So I have this thing with binge-watching random youtube videos and [this](https://youtu.be/WP3vyZDxOz4) one - kids describe to an illustrator - is among my faves (mostly bc I have a tiny crush on Koji the illustrator when he's with the kids) and I thought, "hmm... How do I turn this into Jonsa?"

****Jon never expected the whole youtube thing to get big; he didn't even think anyone watches Sam's videos aside from close family and friends.

His best friend started it when their family moved to Old Town just a year after Little Sam was born. With the distance between the Tarlys and all their family and friends, the videos were a way to document his boy as he grew into the witty five-year-old he is today.

Jon's among the few who watched the videos religiously, and once Sam and Gilly moved to Winterfell, he became a constant feature in it too.

As a single freelance illustrator in his mid-twenties, living in a humble studio apartment for one, with no social life outside of Sam and Gilly -- hanging out with his five-year-old godson is honestly the highlight of his social life.

Mostly, when he comes over, Little Sam asks him to draw. He likes to tell Jon exactly what he wants drawn, and comes up with the weirdest yet most adorable ideas.

The surprise comes when those kind of vidord starts gaining online attention; suddenly, people start viewing Sam's channel more and more, asking for more drawing-centric video with the 'hot uncle'.

It's then that they came up with the Watchers on the Wall youtube channel, where he and Little Sam would sit at a table and try to come up with an imagined drawing that falls in line with whatever theme Gilly comes up with for the week.

It starts small, with around a thousand hits per week, and then slowly it starts getting more and more popular, to the point that they're earning money from it.

Jon still takes commissions, of course, but he could easily survive off of youtube if they maintain the view count weekly.

At that point, they started taking it a lot more seriously and put in more effort.

They rented out a small studio to shoot at around month three and Gilly starts recruiting parents who are willing to let their kids appear on the videos with a small compensation. Sam is more on the business side of it, how to market their stuff and coming up with merch to sell.

Jon of course, is the front man. He's mostly involved in the creative aspect of it, as is his forte. He designs the merch and appears on-cam to draw with the kids.

It's a pretty nice gig; it doesn't even feel like working. He's doing what he loves and he gets to hang out with incredibly imaginative children while he's at it.

It takes some time to get used to this odd sort of stardom he develops, though; he starts to get recognized at the grocery store a lot. And whenever he comes out with the Tarly's.

He starts to get a lot more commissions, too, still mostly illustrations for children's books, but he likes the opportunities brought to him by the whole thing.

It's a good shift in his life, and he feels less and less like he doesn't know what the hell he's doing with adulthood.

"Hello, I'm Jon," he greets the little kid next to him as soon as Sam calls action. "What's your name?"

"Eddard, like my grandpa," he says cheerfully, giving Jon a shy smile. "But you can call me Ned."

"Ned? Alright, then, Ned. Nice to meet you." He offers the little boy a hand which he shakes expertly. "Do you know what we're doing today?"

He shook his head. "No.."

"Well, today we're drawing your parents. You're going to describe how they look to me and then I'll try to draw them as you tell me. Sound good?"

He frowns. "I only have one."

"You only have one?" Jon asked in confusion, frowning.

"Yeah, my mom."

"Oh. That's alright, I only have my mom, too, actually." Jon paused, grabbing his pencil from the table to start. "Will you describe her to me?"

"Your mom?"

He laughs, surprised. "No. I meant if you could describe your mom to me."

"Yeah, that makes a lot more sense," Ned replies with a nod. "My mom is really pretty. She's got red hair like mine," he says, pointing to his red curls. "But hers are straight and long and really, really soft." He thinks for a second and then continues. "She has blue eyes and freckles, too, around her cheeks, like me, but not too much. Just like, three... and. "

Jon laughs again, trying to follow as Ned describes his mother in full speed. It's surprisingly easy to follow his description, and Jon can tell that he really pays so much attention.

The other kids that have gone in before him weren't as specific; they take a bit more time to decide on how they think their parents look like. But Ned is very sure of what he says, like he's got his mother's face etched in his mind's eye.

It reminds Jon of his own relationship with his mother, how he can easily and accurately draw her face down to the last detail, with no help, even though she's been gone for years and he's only looked at her photos for reference since.

Ned gasps once Jon's done outlining the face and he turns to the little boy to see a pleased smile on his face.

"That looks so much like my mom," he said happily.

"Yeah? You were really good at describing her," Jon tells him. "So, what else are we missing? What would your mom usually be wearing?"

"Pajamas." He says decisively.

"Pajamas?" Jon repeats with a smile. "How come?"

He thinks about it for a second. "Well, she wears a lot of dresses too but we just moved to Winterfell so she works on her computer and she says no one will see anyway so it's fine if she's in pajamas."

Jon grinned in amusement. "Alright. What kind of pajamas, then?"

"Hmm... Sweatpants and t-shirt?"

"Should we draw her with a computer too?" Jon asked after a while once he's finished with the clothes.

He turned to Ned in time to catch him shaking his head. "No, with a phone." Conspiratorially, he adds: "I'm not supposed to know but my Aunt Arya says she's talking a lot with a boy that Aunt Marg knows." He sighed. "I think he wants to be my dad."

Jon blinks, unsure how to thread through the turn in conversation. "You think so?"

"Mhm. A lot of boys want to marry my mom but she doesn't want to marry any of them." He leans on his hand casually as he watched Jon work on adding the phone, like it's no big deal. "I heard her tell Aunt Marg that she's not going to marry anyone because boys suck."

"Yeah, boys can be mean."

"I think she'd marry you, though," he continues offhandedly. "You're pretty cool."

Jon coughs in surprise, and he hears Sam chuckle in the background. "Thanks. You're pretty cool too."

Jon meets the woman in question after they finish filming; there's a small area outside the studio set up for parents where they can watch their kids through a TV screen and she's there with Gilly when Jon comes out with Ned, the last kid for the day.

The word radiant is the first that comes to mind as soon as he spots her and somehow her kid didn't do any justice in describing her at all, no matter how well he actually did.

"Oh. Hi," he says, blinking rapidly as he got closer.

She gives him a sheepish smile. "Hi, sorry about what - you know..." She brushed Ned's hair fondly. "He gets pretty talkative."

"It was fine," he said, waving it off. "He's great. I'd love to work with him again sometime, if you guys are ever free to do this again."

"I apparently have a lot of time, don't I?" she said with a laugh, turning to her son with a mischeous smile. "Just on my pajamas all day, huh?"

Ned giggled, trying to squirm away as she tried to tickle him. "it's only the truth."

Jon watched the pair of them with a smile, his heart hammering in his chest in a way he knows it's not supposed to.

Not yet, at least. He barely knows her. But still.

"Seriously, I hope you guys come back," he tells her again once her attention is back on him. "I think we're drawing fairytales next week," he tells Ned. "Sounds interesting, right?"

He nodded excitedly. "Can you draw princesses and direwolves and castles and - and the battle of Winterfell?"

"Baby, that's not a fairytale," Sansa whispers to him with a smile. "I think Jon means stories like Florian and Jonquil, remember that?"

His eyes lit up. "Oh, cool. We can do that too."

Jon laughed, ruffling his hair fondly. "That means I'll see you next week then?" Ned nods in affirmation and he turns to Sansa with a polite smile. "Looking forward to it."

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to wait until I finished one of my WIPs before I did this but, in light if recent events (Jonsa Reunion 2.0), I will be opening my ask box on tumblr (theshipshipper) for a week for prompts.
> 
> Feel free to send me fic ideas you want me to write, preferrably modern aus, and I'll try to write no less than a thousand words for each of them.
> 
> Also, if you want me to gift you the fic, make sure to include your ao3 username so I can tag you. :D


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